A Whisper and a Smile
by Crazyeight
Summary: There are days where Rika wonders about how she gets into some situations. While wondering about her future, she finds an answer to these questions, and a piece to the puzzle of that future where it might, one day, bear fruit.


Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A Whisper and a Smile

A Digimon Tamers fanfic by: Crazyeight

Rika scowled as she gazed at herself in the mirror. Her fiery hair was down and she wore a long dress of soft pink with sleeves that only just barely came down past her shoulders. It was _far_ from the outfit with the apron that her mother had her wear for a photo-shoot from nearly two years ago, but she still didn't like it. It _looked_ nice even to her – having chosen it herself as part of the deal – but she just couldn't get past the fact that it was just that; a dress.

Clenching it in her hands, she pressed her lips together tightly and glared at her appearance angrily. Not quite the fire that she had the last time when she did this – a gravure photoshoot that her friend Jeri had joined her in – but still there. For a change however, it was more directed at herself.

She felt a tingle at the back of her mind, and in the mirror, a golden-furred kitsune with violet arm-guards materialized out of thin air, icy-blue eyes staring at her with what would appear from the casual observer to be a dispassionate gaze. Rika, like all who knew the digital life-form – a digimon – known as Renamon, knew better. The tingle became clearer, and a touch of amusement mingled with concern flowed between their mental link.

"Don't even say it, Renamon," Rika breathed, smoothing out her skirt while closing her eyes, forcing herself to regain her cool composure. In the darkness behind her eyelids, she heard the warm chuckle from her partner.

"I don't have to. You brought this on yourself after all. You didn't have to do this."

"Makes me wonder what was going through my head when I said 'yes'in the first place," she grumbled, opening her eyes once more to look at herself. A faint tinge of red colored her cheeks. I must have taken stupid pills this morning. Or maybe Takato's being a _Gogglehead_ is infectious."

The color in her cheeks deepened ever so slightly at the use of her _pet name_ for her friend and fellow Tamer in all things digimon. Him and their mutual friend, Henry. Her hands curled into tight fists.

 _If he…_ they _hadn't been there…_ she thought before stopping herself. It wasn't as though it had been either of their faults. If anything, it had been because of Henry's partner, Terriermon, who couldn't keep his big mouth shut, and _then_ Takato…

There came a knock at the door, breaking her out of her thoughts, and it opened, revealing her mother, Rumiko, a worried smile on her face.

"Just checking in on you," she said. "We're ready whenever you are."

Unknotting her fists and laying her palms flat on her lap, Rika nodded.

"Okay," was all she said in response and stood up. She felt Renamon's gaze on her back before the kitsune faded from view, but not before allowing an emotion of warmth and comfort to filter through their link. Holding the door open for her daughter, Rumiko stepped aside.

"You know," she said as the girl exited. "You don't have to do this. I know you don't like photoshoots…"

"If you know, then you don't need to give me an out," Rika _harrumphed._ "I said I'd do it, so I'll do it."

"I know, dear," Rumiko replied, looking at her daughter sympathetically. Sighing, she looked away as they made their way down the hall. "Sometimes I wonder if the schools put too much pressure on you young people to find out what you want to do for a career. I knew what I wanted when I was your age, but…"

Rumiko drifted off, and Rika sunk into her memories from a week ago, hanging out at her home with her friends, Henry and Takato, filling out their career planning forms. Or rather, to be more accurate, she and Takato were filling them out, having given little thought for such things while Henry knew what he wanted to do since they were twelve. Four years later, they still lagged compared to him, and for they both felt embarrassed to be in his shadow.

That had been the beginning of it.

 _"You don't have to decide now,"_ Rumiko had said. _"Just see if you've changed your mind on it, and if not, well, you can always just fill the sheet in and do something else."_

Rika felt the beaded bracelet – a good-luck gift from Jeri – slip down her wrist and she adjusted it, her scowl deepening. She hated that line of thinking. It felt too much like surrender; like she couldn't figure out what she wanted to do and was simply putting it off as though she were Kazu.

 _I'm a Tamer,_ she thought. _That's what I want to do with my life. Why can't that be what I want?_

The answer, of course, was obvious. For years, the government hadn't quite worked out what to do with the situation with Tamers, understandably not being happy with the idea of using what amounted to 'child soldiers' to combat problems from the alternate reality created by the world's Internet and continued to show reluctance even as they grew and aged, not wanting to be dependent on such a small group of individuals. Yamaki, head of the security organization known as _Hypnos_ had left them a stipend out of the organization's budget, but how long _that_ would be allowed was anyone's guess. In either case, until things became certain, they couldn't depend on such things.

"Hey! Look who's here!" Crowed a familiar, not to mention annoying voice as Rika and Rumiko stepped into view, and the sharp-eyed girl's head snapped up to find a long-eared, doughy creature shaped roughly like a rabbit, only without the absurdly large back feet. Balancing precariously on the head one, tiny hand atop the head of a crimson dinosaur with a large, hazard sign emblazoned on his white chest was Terriermon, the digimon who _started_ this mess.

Rika folded her arms over her chest, giving the diminutive troublemaker a hard glare. Terriermon, long used to this, simply giggled.

"It's about time," he chided, irking her. "We thought that you had slipped out or something."

"Terriermon…" This from the crimson dinosaur just as off to the side, two boys looked up at the long-eared digimon with reproach. "Don't be like that. This is important."

"Don't go all Henry on me, Guilmon," Terriermon giggled, plopping himself down so he could relax now that Rika had at last arrived. "Momentai already."

"I really ought to momentai you into a full body cast," Rika said coolly, ignoring her mother's quiet look of alarm. "But then you'd be given painkillers."

"Ouch." Terriermon tugged at Guilmon's long, bat-wing ears like the reigns on a horse. "Better move along, Guilmon. The Digimon Queen is on the warpath."

"Only because of you," Guilmon said, padding over to the two boys as they drew near. Before Terriermon could even make a response to that, Henry's hand fell upon his head and rapped his knuckles upon it.

"Be good," he admonished. "You said you'd behave, remember?"

"What? I haven't done anything!"

"Yet," Takato quipped with a light laugh. "Come on, we should get out of the way so Rika can have her photoshoot."

Rika frowned at that and reflexively picked at her bracelet.

"You're _not…_ in the way," she muttered irritably before meeting the gaze of her two friends. "At least not _yet."_

"Uh…isn't that what I said?"

"Don't mind her, Rika's just a little bit nervous," Rumiko broke in with a grin, clasping her hands around her daughter's shoulders. Rika squirmed a bit, sensing the amusement in her mother's voice, causing her to tighten her grip around the bracelet.

"We know how she is with cameras," Terriermon said from Guilmon's head as the dinosaur retreated behind Takato to protect his long-eared passenger – and by extension himself – from the Digimon Queen's wrath, should she choose _now_ to cut loose. "Don't worry, Rika. We'll be here, cheering you on. Just pretend like we're not here. Only, you know, we _are_ here, but…"

"She gets it," Henry sighed with a shake of his head. "Don't worry, Rika. We'll keep the imp under control."

The half-Chinese Tamer paused before reluctantly adding, "Hopefully."

Terriermon giggled. "Face it, Henry. There's _no_ controlling me. Well, except maybe when there's food involved…"

"There's no controlling you then either, though," Guilmon pointed out. Terriermon scowled at him with his black-eyes.

"Pot talking to the kettle, there, Guilmon?"

"Huh?" The dinosaur's gold-colored eyes blinked in confusion at that. "I don't understand. Are we making tea now?"

"If you could just hurry along so we can get this _over_ with…" Rika began in an exasperated voice. Giving a light laugh, Takato began to push Guilmon and Terriermon along so that they would off in the sidelines.

"Aaand that's our cue," he said, grinning his usual, cheesy, lopsided grin. Rika scowled at it. She _hated_ that smile just as much as she loved seeing it on his goofy face, and today it only caused the butterflies in her stomach to increase in intensity.

Quickly situation themselves off to the side, Takato and Henry flashed her a thumbs up. "Good luck," the brown-haired _Gogglehead_ said.

"Yeah," Terriermon crowed as Guilmon waved a massive arm at her. "Good luck. Not that you _need_ it…"

Rika felt the heat on her face rise a notch, and she felt her mother's hands squeeze her shoulders comfortingly.

"It's so nice that you have such caring friends," the older woman hummed, her thumbs tracing along the girl's sleeves. "Don't worry. I'll make sure this is quick so you can all get back to your fun."

"Thanks…" Rika said in a deadpan voice as she started toward the screen that was to be her background for the shoot. A beach. Her choice, just as the dress had been her choice. No silly hats. No fluff. The beach, because even though the sun was hard on her skin whenever she went there, some of her best memories had been there.

 _Except for that time Kazu had pantsed Takato right in front of me as a joke,_ she mused. That day stood out like a black eye in more ways than one. Ignoring the blush that yet again touched her cheeks, Rika faced the camera, wincing as photographer did a strobe test.

 _How does Mom put up with this?_ she thought for the first time in years. She hated the lights and all the flashing. Why was she even here in the first place?

"All right," began the photographer as he leaned into his camera, focusing on her. "Just act naturally. We'll begin without the strobe and work our way from there."

The camera clicked and clicked at a rapid pace, and Rika sighed inwardly. Already she could feel herself tensing up. This was becoming more and more obvious that she made a terrible decision, _especially_ with inviting her friends along. They had to be bored by now. Glancing over in their direction, she narrowed her eyes questioningly. As if seeing this, they both smiled at her and Takato, as usual, gave her a thumbs up and added a small smile, this time not so cheesy and more heartwarming. Rika quickly looked away, the heat rising once more beneath her skin. In an effort to distract herself and ignore her friends, Rika took hold of her skirt and knelt down.

"Hang on, I wasn't…" the cameraman began, only to be silenced by a hard look from Rika.

"You said _act_ naturally," she said.

"Let her be," said Rumiko from off to the side with another familiar face, a bespectacled man. She remembered having been introduced to him when she was twelve, but she barely remembered who he was. Sugoi she thought his name was? Sugai?

No longer caring, she closed her eyes and just…listened. The camera resumed its work and she thought back. Back to one week ago when she was with her friends. Rumiko, standing in the doorway, waiting for Rika's answer to her suggestion, and Terriermon smirking like a cat that had just caught a mouse.

 _"What's the matter, Queenie?"_ Terriermon teased. _"Afraid of having your picture taken? Or of wearing a dress?"_

 _"Huh?"_ A look of baffled confusion crossed Takato's face. _"Why would she? I mean…"_ The confusion knotted up in concentration, a look Rika came to know quite well since puberty began for them, as the boy found himself bizarrely tongue-tied a touch more than when they were younger. Terriermon, for a wonder, waited a moment for him to collect his thoughts.

 _"I'm just wondering…"_ he had begun, looking at her this time. _"Why would you want to? I mean…"_ Blushing badly and rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, he continued. _"…you don't even_ like _modeling or dresses and…um…you look fine the way you are so…"_

 _"My, my,"_ Rumiko beamed as the boy coughed, obviously flustered while Rika felt a bright blush bloom across her cheeks at the unexpected compliment. _"Such a gentleman."_

Terriermon however couldn't let it go.

 _"Oh, come on, Takatomon! You've never seen Rika wear a dress before. How would you know?"_

 _"Well… Because it's Rika,"_ the boy said clearly while stumbling over his words, all too keenly aware of Rika's eyes on him. _"And…that's all that needs to be said."_

 _Terriermon was right though,_ she thought, opening her eyes and gazing down at her hands. A flash of light. They were starting to use the strobe now. She remembered how, back when they were twelve, during the crisis with the D-Reaper, they were left a note that said to go straight to her house. She remembered how self-conscious she had been, suddenly realizing that she never had friends over there before. _Takato_ had been there before, but at the time they hadn't been friends so she thought little of it beyond wanting to get him off the street so no one would draw the wrong conclusions and to hide their digimon.

Over the years, she allowed Takato and Henry to see more of her personal side, but even to this day she couldn't help but feel self-conscious about doing so. They were her best friends after Renamon, and it bothered her that she behaved like she couldn't fully trust them.

 _And the thing is,_ she thought, still gazing at her hands, _I do. I do trust them._

She glanced up at her friends, her violet-eyes meeting first Henry's grey ones and then falling on Takato's crimson. The smaller, brown-haired boy whom she nicknamed so long ago as _Gogglehead_ stood stock still, a ferocious blush creeping along his face now, marching toward his ears and his own eyes were wide, seemingly in awe. As she watched, his lips moved and, silently, he whispered a single word.

"Pretty…"

A smile began to grow along her own lips at that, small, but visibly appreciating the compliment he paid to her, and in her stomach, there was once more a fluttering of butterflies…

"Hey Rika!" Terriermon called out loudly, ruining the moment. "Guess what I just heard! Takatomon thinks you're pretty!"

Angrily shooting to her feet, face blushing in exasperation, Rika's fingers found themselves curled into tight fists.

"That does it! I'm using your head as a soccer ball now!"

Terriermon's ears shot up in sudden alarm, and he grabbed hold of Guilmon's own ears.

"Uh oh! Up and at 'em, boy! We've got to run!"

"What do you mean, _we?!"_ Guilmon exclaimed as the photographer and Rumiko tried to break up the sudden commotion. "Ow! Terriermon! That hurts!"

"Mush, Guilmon! Mush!"

"Terriermon…!" began Henry fearfully, but it was too late. With a loud clatter and a crash as Guilmon whipped around wildly, trying to dislodge the dog-bunny digimon, equipment was briefly set loose from their bonds with gravity and the whole scene transformed into a chaotic storm of yelping digimon and humans.

 **###**

"I think Terriermon's had enough for one day," Henry said upon their exit from the Alamanda studio. The long-eared digimon, sporting a lump atop his forehead, was busy attempting to look properly apologetic for his actions while attempting to hide a smirk behind his tiny paws.

"Momentai," he muffled. "Mo-men-taiii…"

 _"You_ need to momentai," Rika growled, crossing her arms together. "For goodness sake, what were you _thinking_ grabbing Guilmon's ears like that?"

For added emphasis, she shot a look over in Guilmon's direction where Takato was massaging the poor dinosaur's ears. Guilmon nuzzled his partner's leg, quite happy with the attention he was getting in the aftermath of the earlier chaos.

"I said I was sorry about that…"

"Don't worry," Henry chuckled. "You'll have plenty of time to be sorry about it. Suzie may be a little old now, but I think I can convince her to squeeze you into a tutu for a round of Princess Pretty Pants."

 _"No!_ Henry! That's _too_ cruel! Henryyy…!"

"I'll see you guys later," Henry grinned, ignoring his partner's heated protests, leaving his two friends behind with a wave. Rika simply nodded to him with a grateful smirk while Takato waved awkwardly, still rubbing Guilmon's ears. As though his exit was a signal, Renamon materialized out of thin air next to her partner.

"Well…that was…different."

"Too bad you didn't show up to blow him up like you did with Impmon," Rika grunted. Renamon bowed apologetically.

"I am sorry. I promised your mother not to repeat that incident."

"For all the good it did," Rumiko sighed as she approached, having finished bidding Sugai goodbye. "Honestly, I'm starting to think that this line of work isn't for you. This is the third time I've brought you here and it's the third time something's been destroyed. If that's not a sign from the universe, I don't know what is."

"Maybe if all those photoshoots were like that, I'd be fine with it," Rika said, still sounding a bit cross about the whole ordeal. This perked up Guilmon's ears and he looked up.

"Oh! Maybe you could be in the movies then! There's _lots_ of action like that! I bet with Renamon there, you'd be able to do all your own stunts too!"

Rika gave the dinosaur a flat stare. "Keep dreaming, Dino-boy," she said before looking at her mother, her expression changing slightly, becoming more sorrowful.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I…didn't mean for things to get like this."

Rumiko gave her daughter a soft, appreciative smile.

"Don't worry. If anything, it's something I'll have to laugh about later. I…" Rumiko paused and took out her cell phone to check the time. She pressed her lips together regretfully. "I have to get to my appointment unfortunately."

Wrapping her arms about her daughter, she gave the girl a tight hug, one that Rika returned gratefully.

"I'll see you when I get home."

Pulling away, she gave Takato a knowing smile and after another, hurried bid of goodbye, she headed off, leaving the two teens alone with their partners.

"So…ah…" began Takato after a moment of awkward silence. "What do you want to do now?"

Rika paused uncertainly, not sure what to say. The butterflies were back again, and not the pleasant ones from earlier. She felt as though all eyes were on her. After a long moment of debate, she turned and started off.

"I'm heading home," she said before adding as an afterthought. "You can come along if you want."

She found herself pleasantly surprised when Takato fell into step beside her.

"Rika…about what Terriermon said…"

"What? That you thought I was pretty?" Rika's fingers tightened their grip around her arms, tension rising from her belly and worming its way across her body.

"Um…well, yeah," the boy admitted. "I just wanted to say that…" he coughed and scratched the side of his face in embarrassment. "…that I _do_ think you looked pretty back there. Not that I don't think you look nice without a dress…I mean… Ah… Wow. That came out wrong…"

Rika closed her eyes, feeling the heat burning her skin. "Just when I start thinking you can't do something even _more_ embarrassing, you have to go and prove me wrong."

Blushing furiously, Takato fought his way through his embarrassment.

"I just think you're nice no matter what," he continued, his fingernails biting into his palms as he pushed through the barrier between his mouth and brain. "You looked nice wearing a dress too, but…it was…different. A different kind of nice. But…you're you."

He scratched the back of his head in frustration.

"However you look, or whatever you say or do… As long it's you, you're pretty…"

He trailed off and Rika eyed him out of the corner of her eye questioningly. "Pretty awesome?" she prompted, seeing that he appeared to be struggling with words again. Takato smiled and bobbed his head.

"That too," he replied, and she saw tension run out of him. "But you're also pretty amazing and pretty… _pretty."_

Rika watched him for a moment and shifted her arms before allowing a small smile to cross her lips.

"You have quite the way with words, Gogglehead. You should say stuff like this more often. You'd probably get less tied up if you did."

Takato could only respond by smiling his usual, goofy smile as the red continued to bloom like a rose upon his face. One that was shared by Rika as well. Coming to an intersection, Rika thought for a moment longer and then took hold of Takato by the arm, steering him in another direction.

"U-whaaa…? Rika, what…?"

"Change of plans," she said sternly. "There's an ice cream shop about a block away. We're getting some, and you can practice saying these things until you're less stupid about them."

She turned and raised an eyebrow at the baffled boy. "Is that a problem, or did you already have plans?"

"Uh…no? No problem. And I didn't have any plans either."

Guilmon's claws went up to his mouth as his golden eyes grew wide in realization.

"Are you…Are the two of you going on a date?"

Rika opened her mouth to say that this was more about practice, but a flutter of excited butterflies – the good kind – drew her up short. Her smile growing ever so slightly, she eyed Takato like a cat, and the boy smiled back awkwardly.

"Well…we could start," she said, enjoying how the red coloring his face deepened in response. She could feel the tremble of worry and excitement in his arm; the rise in his temperature. He looked as though he couldn't decide if he were dreaming or not.

"Takato?"

His hand slipped into hers and he smiled once more.

"Lead the way, Dream Girl."

"Dork," Rika rolled her eyes, but she pulled him along all the same, butterfly wings fluttering even harder now, and she smiled along with them.

 **###**

A/N: Continuing to wage battle against my burnout. Got a sudden burst of inspiration and after mulling around for a couple days, I just sat down and pushed ahead. It's not perfect, but hopefully this is the start of getting back on track. This story was inspired by a piece of Tumblr art (as evidenced by the cover), and I hope I did the piece justice. :)

Until next time.

-Crazyeight

7


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